Fisherball
Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2009
- Messages
- 470
Re: Should i be concerned??
Sometimes it's a matter of perception. I used to be the production manager of a heating company that did over 1,000 new homes a year. I stole 600 houses from a competitor because their production manager told the builder what he thought the builder wanted to hear instead of the truth. It started in a subdivision with about 300 homes being built over 2-3 years. The builder had two contractors for each trade, split evenly. Builder would call my comp & ask when he could do a certain house. My comp figured the builder wanted them there in 3 days. He knew his schedule said in 5 days. He'd tell builder 3 days & show up on the 5th day, 2 days late. Builder would call me & I knew he wanted 3 days but schedule said 5. I'd tell builder 6-7 days & do the work on the 5th day, 1-2 days early. We did the houses at the same rate but I was always early & my comp was always late based on the perception of the builder. Within 6 months my comp lost that subdivision because he was always late & I got the rest of the houses because I did them when I said I would or earlier. We took 2 more subdivisions from them & they never figured out why. BIG $$$$$!! Your mechanic is telling you what he thinks you want to hear. Sorry about the long story but scheduling production & dealing with customers is an exacting job & I find most don't do it correctly!
If I was in your situation I would become a friendly PITA to the guy. Show up frequently, all friendly & ask what stage the work is in. If production doesn't match what you were told, be kind of a prick. He'll finish quickly to get you to leave him alone.
Sometimes it's a matter of perception. I used to be the production manager of a heating company that did over 1,000 new homes a year. I stole 600 houses from a competitor because their production manager told the builder what he thought the builder wanted to hear instead of the truth. It started in a subdivision with about 300 homes being built over 2-3 years. The builder had two contractors for each trade, split evenly. Builder would call my comp & ask when he could do a certain house. My comp figured the builder wanted them there in 3 days. He knew his schedule said in 5 days. He'd tell builder 3 days & show up on the 5th day, 2 days late. Builder would call me & I knew he wanted 3 days but schedule said 5. I'd tell builder 6-7 days & do the work on the 5th day, 1-2 days early. We did the houses at the same rate but I was always early & my comp was always late based on the perception of the builder. Within 6 months my comp lost that subdivision because he was always late & I got the rest of the houses because I did them when I said I would or earlier. We took 2 more subdivisions from them & they never figured out why. BIG $$$$$!! Your mechanic is telling you what he thinks you want to hear. Sorry about the long story but scheduling production & dealing with customers is an exacting job & I find most don't do it correctly!
If I was in your situation I would become a friendly PITA to the guy. Show up frequently, all friendly & ask what stage the work is in. If production doesn't match what you were told, be kind of a prick. He'll finish quickly to get you to leave him alone.
